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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585866">New Beginnings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetspiderstew/pseuds/sweetspiderstew'>sweetspiderstew</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexual Steve Rogers, Asexual Tony Stark, Asexuality, Asexuality Spectrum, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Coming Out, Family Fluff, Gen, Hot Chocolate, Not Beta Read, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Avengers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Team as Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:29:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,578</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585866</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetspiderstew/pseuds/sweetspiderstew</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers has stumbled into the 21st century and finds his struggle to understand the world and himself even more complicated than before. But with the help of his overprotective family-but-formally-a-team, maybe he'll figure it all out.</p>
<p>Or, Steve just hates parties and Tony helps him realise something.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers &amp; Avengers Team, Steve Rogers &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>New Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>heylooo friendss!<br/>Okay I absolutely did not plan this - I have a dozen other WIPs but obviously finished this first - but I hope you enjoy it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey big guy, what’s a pretty boy like you doing all alone?”</p>
<p>Steve grunted, ignoring the random stranger who seemed to be passionate about pissing him off. Or had a death wish, but they just didn’t know who really was. He hoped. Colored contacts and a baseball cap should hopefully do it in a busy, crowded city like New York where nobody has the time to give a flying fuck about anything but whatever they’re running late for. Apparently it doesn’t ward people off though.</p>
<p>“Aw now don’t be like that, here, let me buy you a drink”.</p>
<p>Steve sighed, picturing a dozen ways he could smash the glass in his hands, before taking a slow sip. “No”.</p>
<p>“Won’t you even look at me? C’mon now, you’ll have a good time”.</p>
<p>Steve squirmed slightly, awkwardness taking over his anger. Seriously though, how hard was it to see he was obviously not interested. He resumed to stare at his drink with a focus he reserves only for targets during a mission, letting his stupid eidetic memory capture every fine detail of the glass, and then his fingertips, and then the tips of his jacket. He’s so lost in observing the stitch pattern of his shirt that he does not realize his annoying stranger has walked away and someone else has taken their place.</p>
<p>He looked up at the person beside him hesitantly, and breathes a sigh of a relief when this one is on a phone call, and is thankfully not interested in testing Steve’s remaining patience. He hopped off his seat, walking to another end of the club that looked empty.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for him, that was just the worst idea he could have had, especially because the music had just changed and people were getting frantic and wanted to take up more space. Which meant he had to make his way through a crazy crowd that strangely reminded him of walking through a fish market. The absolute worst. Sticky and icky.</p>
<p>Steve grimaced as he felt bodies around him, people falling over each other and making out and having no sense of personal space. He leaned to his left a little, only to bump into a couple and his brain immediately went into his usual <em>ew ew ew I did not see that ew ew ew</em> chant, and continued to move through, making sure to keep his focus on his shoes this time.</p>
<p>“Heyy you wanna dance with meee?”</p>
<p>Steve nearly tripped over himself and the person that was hugging him drunkenly, and wondered why on earth he ever thought it was a good idea to come to a club. Well, he didn’t really. He just had an overprotective team that kept subtly – no, they weren’t subtle at all, not with Tony and Thor on their side - asking him to get out and do something fun, so he just went in hopes of shutting them up for a bit. And he was touched by their concern anyway, it made him feel all warm inside despite the freezing cold he felt from the 21st century in general.</p>
<p>Steve pursed his lips tightly, gently removing their hands off him, not sure what else to do.</p>
<p>“Oooh I love this song!!!”, this person screamed, dragging Steve with them.</p>
<p>Steve’s eyes widened in horror, swiftly removing himself from their hold and continued to slip outside the crowd, making a dash for the exit. This was one of the billion times he missed being his tinier self. It would have been so easy to get away. He didn’t exactly hate crowded places now – he grew up in a tenement for god’s sake – but this was just uncomfortable. Extremely uncomfortable. He would throw up if he wasn’t focusing so hard on his breathing.</p>
<p>Steve successfully makes it to a corner, closing on himself tightly before whipping his phone out and shooting a quick text on their group chat.</p>
<p><b>Steve Rogers: </b>GET ME OUT OF THIS DAMN CLUB SOMEONE, PLEASEEEE</p>
<p>Steve winced immediately after sending it. He should have just walked back home, and shrugged and said he had a great time. Now it was like he was begging for attention and his message sounded so damn desperate. Not even good attention. The team was just warming up to him and trying to take care of him, after all. This was just horrid of him. Just as he was about to delete the message, Tony responds with a quick thumbs up emoji and Steve facepalms himself, pushing the door with his shoulder as he walks out. He breathes in the crisp winter air, and rests his head to the wall behind him as he feels his heart rate come down. Steve takes in the city again, wrapping his arms around himself tightly for warmth. It’s early January, and people are bustling around with the energy that a new year gives – a skip in someone’s step, a cautious smile on someone’s face, a steady grin on someone else’s. Steve’s always loved January because everyone’s looking forward to the future, but now that he has a new love-hate relationship with the capital F Future, he’s more apprehensive.</p>
<p>His flow of thoughts is rudely interrupted by a text notification so he pulls his phone out again, his fingers immediately feeling cold.</p>
<p><b>Tony Stark:</b> See you at the rooftop, Winghead.</p>
<p>
  <em>Rooftop? Shit, shit, shit.</em>
</p>
<p>Steve races upstairs, mentally giving himself another lecture for asking someone to pick him up instead of just walking. Sure, it was damn cold and it would take him at least twenty minutes to get back and everything about the club left him twitchy, but Stark did not have to bring out the damn suit!</p>
<p>“Steve! You alright?”</p>
<p>Steve turned around at the familiar voice, and rolled his eyes. “You did not have to bring the suit out, Tony!”</p>
<p>“I’m an old man, okay. Your text gave me a heart attack. C’mere, hang tight, kiddo”</p>
<p>Steve smiled sheepishly hugging Tony tightly and almost moaned at the warmth of the metal. Ever since coming out of the ice, he’s hated touching anything remotely metallic. Except for the suit – J.A.R.V.I.S always had it nice and warm when he had to ride with Tony. And maybe texting in all caps can scare people a little.</p>
<p>“’m not a kid”, he pouted, watching the city below them.</p>
<p>“You’re like 22. Shush”.</p>
<p>Steve glared at Tony before spotting an entire street shimmering in gold fairy lights. There was something so magical about those lights and Steve loved them so much that Clint and he tried to decorate the entire tower with them, running like children. “25, actua- Look! Look at that it’s so pretty! Did you see that?”</p>
<p>Tony chuckled before gripping Steve a little tighter. “Case in point. Okay, we’re almost home, Capsicle. Hold tight”.</p>
<p>Steve muttered a soft <em>thank you</em> as Tony lets him go, and waits for him to get out of the suit to walk back inside.</p>
<p>“Hey boys, how was the ride home?”</p>
<p>Steve grinned at Natasha, who was currently lying down on the couch in a big fluffy hoodie that she definitely stole from one of them. He sat down by her feet, watching Stark plop down unceremoniously on the other one. “Well it was great, but we really didn’t need the Iron Man suit. Pepper will kick your ass for that, PR and all”.</p>
<p>“On the contrary, I fly around often enough for people to get used to it and hey shut up, you like flying!”</p>
<p>Nat rolled her eyes at their squabbling and turns her head towards the kitchen to holler at Clint. And Thor apparently. “Get two more of those hot chocolates!”</p>
<p>“On it, boss!”, Clint screamed, although it seemed to be Thor who was filling the mugs.</p>
<p>“Maybe make that three? Do you guys need help?”</p>
<p>All of them turned at Bruce, who had just emerged from the lab looking exhausted.</p>
<p>“Brucie bear!!!”, Tony called before pulling Bruce to his side so he could place his head on Banner’s lap. “How’d the results come out? JARVIS updated me as soon as we landed that the configuration is-”</p>
<p>Steve zoned out of whatever technobabble those two had going on, although he <em>was</em> doing his bit of studying random subjects with JARVIS’ help. He smiled softly at Thor as the god handed him a warm mug that smelled heavenly.</p>
<p>“So Steve, how did that outing go?”, Clint asked with the pretense of nonchalance, and Steve almost burst laughing at how hard everyone was trying to act uninterested. It was ridiculous how hard they all wanted him to be happy in the new world. Adorable, if he was being honest.</p>
<p>“Not my scene, I’m afraid. This, however-”, Steve said, relaxing into the cushions, “- this is definitely my scene”.</p>
<p>“Glad to know you love us too, Capsicle, but what, alcohol too bitter for the good boy?”</p>
<p>Steve leaned back, let his head rest behind him so he could stare at the ceiling instead of everyone’s overly inquisitive faces. “No- No, of course it’s not the alcohol - I can’t even get drunk. It’s the people. They’re just so-”, Steve trails off, frowning.</p>
<p>“So…?”, Bruce asks, confused.</p>
<p>“So gross, weird. So damn touchy”, Steve says finally, looking at them again. Thor looked as comfortable as he always did, like everything always makes sense and nothing is surprising. Clint was trying to hide a smirk like he was biting back a retort, Bruce had his eyebrows pinched like he was trying to solve an equation, Natasha stared at him with her head tilted slightly which told him she was searching for one last bit of information, and Tony – Tony’s look confused him because he was staring into air with his eyes wide and Steve wasn’t sure what to make of that.</p>
<p>“What part about people is gross, exactly?”, Natasha asks as she takes a sip from her mug that Steve had actually painted for her. It was a plain red mug and Steve use acrylics to draw a dancing ballerina on the side.</p>
<p>“They’re so- I dunno. It’s- They’re always making out?”, Steve asks, unsure of what else to say. “Or they’re trying to hit on you, you know?”</p>
<p>Nat looked like she had solved her puzzle and Bruce was nodding to himself slowly, like he understood.</p>
<p>“Aw c’mon Cap, the 21st century is too much PDA for you?”, Barton teased, breaking into a laugh, only to be hit smack with a pillow by Nat, but carefully enough it didn’t cause the hot liquid in his mug to even splash around.  </p>
<p>“PDA?”, Thor asked, and Bruce tried explaining to him before Tony cut him off.</p>
<p>“Steve, have you ever heard of asexuality?”</p>
<p>Steve shook his head, but Tony’s soft smile made something in him shift. It reminded him of the time Coulson told him that some of his belongings – <em>yes sir, including your mother’s photographs</em> - were preserved.</p>
<p>“Well, like every sexuality there’s a whole spectrum, but if we chalk it down a simple definition, it would be the lack of sexual attraction.”</p>
<p>Steve felt every part of his head fuse. He might as well have been under the ice again, because everyone instantly broke into chatter – Thor and Clint were asking questions, Natasha answered some of them while Tony continued to explain it – but Steve was barely hearing anything.</p>
<p>
  <em>Lack of sexual attraction.</em>
</p>
<p>“Asexual”, he muttered to himself softly, testing out the word. <em>Asexuality. Asexual. Asexuality.</em></p>
<p>Steve is pulled out of his trance as he feels Tony sit beside him, and notices only then that the others had dispersed, probably to refill their mugs or just to give them space.</p>
<p>“Hey”</p>
<p>“Hey Steve. I didn’t- I didn’t mean to overstep, but you alright?”</p>
<p>“N-no yo-you didn’t overstep or anything, To- Tony, I just- I’m uh-”</p>
<p>Tony smiled at him before cutting him off, squeezing his arm. “Hey, hey. You don’t need to decide or figure it all out right away. Take a deep breath, first.”</p>
<p>Steve did as told, and looked back at Tony once he regained composure, wanting to ask some more questions.</p>
<p>“Yeah I’m sure you barely listened to anything after that first definition”, he began, smiling as Steve grinned sheepishly at him. “But that was pretty much my feeling when I’d heard of it first too. There’s a lot of different types, like I said before. I’m kinda graysexual? It means that I don’t care about sex, if someone else wants to, sure. I usually don’t mind it. I’d say you might be on the sex repulsed side but that’s for you to figure out”.</p>
<p>“Repulsed- So, it’s okay to be repulsed by all that? There’s nothing wrong about that?”</p>
<p>Tony looked like someone just killed a puppy and shook his head before pulling Steve into a quick hug. “Aw Stevie no, I promise. Nothing is wrong with that, okay? You are perfect as you are, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Whatever you feel, don’t feel, it’s all valid. Got it?”</p>
<p>Steve nodded, rubbing his watery eyes with a laugh. “Sorry I just- Thank you so much, Tony. I always felt awkward when people even kissed or- It just feels so much better knowing I’m not the only one”.</p>
<p>There was a lot he wasn’t really saying. <em>Valid. Perfect. </em>Nothing wrong. Nothing<em> wrong. Stevie.</em></p>
<p>Steve Rogers felt home for the first time in a while and he wished Bucky was here so he could tell him all about it because this was the kind of time both of them would be jumping up and down about, screaming because there’s a word for everything, everything is okay.  </p>
<p>“Anytime big guy”, Tony said, getting up and lending him a hand, so Steve got off the couch as well, holding his warm mug with both his hands as they walked to the balcony.</p>
<p>“I figured I wasn’t exactly straight in high school, I guess. Everyone was talking about finding people hot and I had no idea what they meant. And dad always having parties didn’t help with the confusion”.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, that makes sense. Guys in the army were always talking about their sweethearts, it was so weird because half of it didn’t make sense”.</p>
<p>“Yes, exactly! And Truth or Dare? That game was torture. All those games were torture”.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure how you manage being a celebrity, Tony. Well, I suppose it’s goof you aren’t repulsed like I am. All those people and all those parties. I would be puking every two seconds”.</p>
<p>Tony burst laughing before patting him on the back. “People now are way too all over the place, aren’t they? Oh, and I have a billion books and videos and movies you can check out. Just ask J.A.R.V.I.S. Oh and while you’re on that, you should look into Aromanticity as well. Actually, just check out everything queer, J’ll help you”</p>
<p>“Sure”, Steve huffed a laugh at the engineer’s excitement.</p>
<p>“Man of Iron, Captain! Would you mind a refill?”</p>
<p>Steve turned around to see their team join them with a couple thermos flasks of the lovely drink, all chattering about which movie to watch next Friday. He grinned as Clint poured him another glass and melted into the hug Nat gave him from behind, watching the city again.</p>
<p>He might have felt like he’d never find peace in this century, but this is the most content he’s felt since he lost Bucky.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hhgugh okay i hope you liked this!! i love hearing from you so comments and kudos are always appreciated &lt;3</p>
<p>also if you wanna learn more about asexuality and aroanticity, please google! lots of sources out their and fanfics are not good enough sources.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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